"Mermaiding" is a verb coined by the professional and recreational community of people who use mermaid/merman/merfolk tails. The verb means to swim in a tail. Swimming in a tail - mermaiding- can have many effects on the body. Some of these are positive such; an increased strength- while others may be negative, such as; chronic pain. For the purpose of this blog we're going to look at a published study and a survey to better understand the impact mermaiding has on our bodies.
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Introduction
Let’s get real. The amount of merfolk who do nothing but work as mers are very few and far between- if there are any at all. Many of the well known famous mermaids diversify their income.
Hannah Fraser- world famous mermaid, not only works as a mermaid but works as a model, performer, artist, and photographer. Mermaid Melissa supplemented her income for years while working at SeaWorld, modelling, stunt work, and monetizing YouTube. Mermaid Linden in addition to being a mermaid launched a line of monofins and kid’s tails, monetized a popular YouTube series, and Freediving judging. “Working as a mer” can come in many varieties as well. From parties, to filming, selling accessories and tails, teaching lessons, educational events, tourism events, and more. I have spent about half of my professional mermaid career doing only mermaid work. The other half I was also a student, working part time, or working full time in addition. For the first half of my mermaid career I was still ramping up my business and it was very seasonal. This made it a bit easier to cope with school, or a part time job. Twice in my mermaid career I have worked full time at a 9-5 job while taking time off as needed for weekday mermaid gigs, and working gigs all weekend. In this blog I will cover tips for balancing your mer career with your other career and/or education, diversifying your income, and provide you with resources and problem-solving tips.
Much like I wrote about in my “Merfolk and their Weight” blog, fitness is very much a personal journey. I started documenting my fitness journey almost a year ago on this blog. For this entry I want to give a summary of the year, share some wisdom with my personal trainer, and let you know what I’ve come to learn is important for mermaids with their fitness!
A lot goes into being a mermaid. Whether you’re doing it for fun, or doing it as a job. Hair, makeup, costumes, and yes… fitness. It takes a lot of strength and stamina to be a mer, and being a mer can add an extra layer of stress to your body. You’re swimming, often in a very heavy costume, lugging loads of gear and sometimes kids, balancing precariously, and dealing with often stressful situations. Your costume puts a lot of pressure on your hips, knees, and ankles. The dolphin kick can put a lot of extra force on your lower back when it’s coupled with a tail that is either heavy or creates a lot of drag (resistance) in the water. Back when I started researching for my third book: The Fishy Business Handbook for Mermaids, I asked the community what sort of information they'd like to see in the book. I had an overwhelming response asking for the experiences of other merfolk in different demographics. So I began running surveys and collecting experiences from different demographics from our mer-world. This included asking men about their experiences, asking the merfolk who are trans/non binary, looking at issues specific to merMAIDS, and a big request was research into the area of weight and body image. The information I collected went on to be in my book, and other blogs, such as the recent on on Mermen.
I ran a survey for months where anyone who identified as "plus size" (a term suggested) within the mer community could share their experiences. The survey results were published in my book, and now I'd like to share some of them with you all here! All of the photos you see were submitted by people who self-identified as "plus size" (or a similar variation) and were happy to contribute. |
RainaThe Halifax Mermaid Buy the BookLeave a Tip
Disclaimer:
The information in these blogs and video posts are for informational purposes only. Trying any of these suggestions are done so at your own risk. The creator/owner assumes no risk or liability and urges you to seek out professional training and advice.
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